Chest Pain at Huntsman

After the slip on the stairs last Sunday, Liz has had more severe lower back pain. She spent most of the week on the couch lying down, as sitting or standing became too painful. It seemed to ease a little by Wed. and Thurs.

Monday, way too early, we went to get Liz's port put in. It all seemed to go well, and Dr. Scaife put it far to the shoulder so it wouldn't get in the way of any necklines including her wedding dress. We hoped it would solve our difficulties with getting IVs in her tiny veins.

Liz went to her shower on Wednesday evening and did well. She had so many visitors who brought cards and gifts that were truly generous. Thanks to all who came and enjoyed our evening! Sheri Seymour donated some of Tony's flashy rings so we could all have a little "bling" on. Lisa, Joy, Lesley, and Stacey, thanks for your tireless work at cooking, planning, inviting and cleaning to prepare for the event! Liz was overwhelmed with the love and good feelings from so many that night. She and JD knew each other very well for the questions asked too. :)

Thursday the 24th we went to Huntsman for her CT and MRI. We went to Fast Track where they do blood draws to access her port. They had no trouble flushing the saline in but a difficult time getting any blood out for labs. They tried Liz in many positions: lying down, sitting up, breathing or not, coughing - finally got a little. She did her scans and an added chest Xray to see if she fractured a vertebra in her back when falling.

At home that night she again vomited, and had some chest pain. She took oxycodone and breathed carefully and it went away after about 15 minutes. She knew she was dehydrated from not drinking and tried to do more, but she really couldn't. She also has been constipated since at least Monday due to taking extra narcotics (oxy).

Friday morning we went to the infusion center early, hoping that they could give her extra fluids and get her hydrated before her Zometa infusion. She had about 1.5 liters in before they added the Zometa. She visited the bathroom and had a BM. :) She took another oxy for pain.

About 15 minutes later she started having chest pain. It got worse, and the nurses went into overdrive for an "acute" situation. They checked lungs and did ECGs and all seemed okay, but they sent her to the ER at the U of U hospital for immediate care. This was a scary time. Liz was in so much pain. She got morphine shots, and still needed more. They gave her dilaudid too, which seemed to help. She needed another CT to compare with the night before, and the IV they added (thinking her port was the cause of chest pain) also felt like she was burning when they injected saline in her arm. She got versed to calm down, and benadryl in case of reaction, then the needed CT. At 8 pm we moved over to the 4th floor at Huntsman.

Dr. Grossmann told us her scans showed two new lesions in the upper brain and maybe many small ones down lower. She has one tumor by her heart as well. Others are same or larger size. This means the BRAF drug is not working so we are finished with it. (We cancelled trip to CA for Monday 28th.)

Options include using another similar drug, MEK, or trying anti CTLA4, recently announced in the news as ipamimumab (I think). We wonder about trying any surgeries to mitigate her pain in her back. We want her to suffer less and enjoy life more.

Please continue in prayer on behalf of Liz, her doctors, and her family. We feel the love and support from so many of you! We know God loves us. He has a plan for each of us. We try to remember to pray "Thy will be done" and mean it.